The Dragon Clan
by Schulyr
Summary: AU-GOF Dumbledore's true colours show through and Harry finds himself with something better than flesh and blood family. After having to flee England Harry receives an education he never expected. future will contain SLASH
1. Dumbledore's True Colours

Chapter One

Dumbledore's True Colours

Harry Potter sat in the middle of the floor of his room at number four Privet Drive in Little Whinging. staring at the letter that had recently been delivered by one of the owls from his school. Now while it might be strange for a school to have owls, let alone owls that deliver letters and parcels, it was quite normal for Harry's school to have them. This is because Harry did not go to a normal school, he went to a school where young witches and wizards learned how to control and use their magic abilities, and in the magical world owls were the standard method of delivering mail. The reason Harry was in Little Whinging and not at school was because one week ago school had ended for summer vacation, and it had decidedly been the longest week of his life.

When he had gotten out of his uncle's car and the man still hadn't said a single word to him he knew that the summer wasn't going to be an enjoyable one. Not that summers spent with the Dursleys ever were, but something about the gleam in his uncle's eye and the slight smirk on his lips had told him that this one was going to be less so than usual. He was ordered to take his things up to the attic, which is where he was to stay for the duration of the summer. The 'room' was completely bare of all furnishings save a small bare mattress in one corner. The roof rose to just over seven feet in the centre and quickly dropped to a little less than two feet on the sides. In the middle of the summer with the hot sun blaring down on the black roof the room's temperature would rise to unbearable levels. This was his prison; this was his cell for the next two months. His uncle had grumbled something about him being allowed out for the bathroom twice a day and his aunt bringing him his meals. It was just like the summer after first year, though this time there were no bars on the windows. Bars of course would have brought too much attention since one of two small round windows faced out onto the street. This meant to Hedwig's delight that she could go out hunting and wouldn't be cooped up in a too small cage all summer.

On day four of his imprisonment he finished all of the summer homework, Hermione would be proud. On day five he wrote to all of his close friends (Ron and Hermione) asking for food, all of his not so close friends (the twins, and Neville) to see how the joke business was progressing and clarifying something from his herbology essay, Professor Lupin, and his godfather. He made sure to leave out the details of his new room out since he didn't want them to worry (and do something stupid that would get them caught by auror's or death eaters) and now was waiting for their replies. On day six he developed a rigorous, three-hour exercise program that would, hopefully, keep him in shape for quidditch while being locked in an attic all summer and read the books that Hermione had kept giving him as gifts over the years.

He wasn't really getting any sleep, just a few short moments here and there, but he preferred it that way. The lack of sleep was due to the fact that whenever he did sleep he had horrible nightmares of his parents and/or Cedric Diggory dying. His brain knew that he wasn't to blame for their deaths but the rest of him kept thinking that if he hadn't been there or that if he had just moved a little faster that there would be three more people alive today than there was.

On day seven he received the letter that had him sitting shocked in the middle of his room. No, he wasn't shocked he decided, he should have figured as much, he wasn't shocked he was angry. A-N-G-R-Y. He felt the anger rising up inside him, four years of schooling had taught him what this was and he focused his anger on the window facing out onto the backyard. The window quickly became filled with a spider's web of hairline cracks, as he felt the anger start to recede he concentrated on the envisioning a perfect, crack-free window and in a blink of an eye the window was as good as new.

A few minutes passed and when a letter from Miranda Hopflick did not arrive he decided that the ministry could not detect wandless magic and returned his attention to the letter from his school's headmaster.

Dear Mr. Potter 

_It has been brought to my attention that you have recently sent out a large batch of letters. While I can understand you feel a need to keep in touch with your friends you must be more careful. While it is highly unlikely for anyone to take notice of your friends receiving owls, as they all either are from wizarding families or receive regular letters from wizarding post, it will draw unneeded attention to yourself. It is necessary for you to keep a low profile and though I know you will probably be bored this summer, having to spend it all indoors, you must understand that it is necessary. Remember that things could be worse, you could be spending the summer the same as you did before you started attending Hogwarts. You should keep in touch with snuffles, reassure him that you are having a good summer as he might do something to endanger himself otherwise, but other than that I would highly recommend ceasing all communication with the outside world._

_Sincerely;_

_Albus Dumbledore_

That ASSHOLE that fucking asshole, he knew! All these years he had thought the man had just been ignorant of the happenings in this house, but no the man just didn't give a flying fuck. That ASSHOLE!!! Harry paced back and forth down the centre of the room; the windows shook under the power of his fury. He needed to do something, something to get his anger under control before he ended up blowing up all of Little Whinging. He tried push-ups, he tried sit-ups, and he tried shadow boxing none of it worked. Finally he grabbed a quill and some parchment and scratched out a letter to Hermione. While Ron was also one of his best friends, Hermione had stuck by him through thick and thin. He didn't want to take the chance that Ron would use this information against him in some future fight.

Dear Hermione 

I know I just wrote you a letter and you haven't even had time to respond yet but I know if I don't do something... Tell someone then I am liable to explode. Well my magic is, and I don't know what the result would be but let me assure that it wouldn't be good. Did you know the ministry can't detect wandless magic? Or at least wandless magic that doesn't use words? Wanna know how I know? I broke one the windows in my prison cell, okay it's really the attic at the Dursleys' but it's pretty **damn** close to a prison cell. I get let out for bathroom breaks twice a day and have my meals delivered to me as well (though I'm pretty sure prisoners get fed more than I do). Back to the broken window, well I got really mad today and I ended breaking the window and fixing it again and guess what? No letter from the ministry threatening my expulsion. Pretty cool, huh? Now I'm sure you are wondering why I was so angry. I got a letter from our elustreus headmaster telling me that I shouldn't be sending out letters since they are unnecessary and that I need to keep a low profile which is why I am locked in the attic without anything to fucking do. I am so bloody bored Hermione I can't stand it and I've only been here a week, how the hell am I supposed to survive two bloody fucking months!? I've finished all the homework, read all the books you've given me (you were right about Hogwarts: A History by the way), written everyone, **including Neville** and I'm about ready to go nuts. The jerk off (Dumbledore) had the **bloody** nerve to say that at least it wasn't as bad as the summers before I started Hogwarts and that I should lie to snuffles about how my summer is going so that he won't do anything about it. I am NOT going to lie to him, he is the closest thing I have to a father and fucked up childhood or not even I know you are not supposed to lie to your parents, especially about this kind of stuff. You know what the real kicker is? The fact that now I know for a fact that Dumbledore knows what the Dursleys used to do to me. I know I've never told you guys this stuff, I just didn't want you guys to worry about me especially since they haven't done anything since Hagrid came with my Hogwarts letter. I'm not going to lie to you now though, things were bad 'mione, real bad. And the fact that that asshole knew and didn't do a single fucking thing to help me, it just makes all the memories that much worse. The worst part is that until today I thought of him as a grandfather, someone whom I could trust no matter what, and now I know that he's just as bad as Uncle Vernon. I now trust Snape more than I do Dumbledore. Snape treats me the way he does because he thinks I had a pampered childhood, which is probably Dumbledore's doing **again **(the meddling asshole), but he has never tried to hurt me. Quite the opposite actually, he looks after me tries to keep me safe. I am quite frankly the golden boy of Hogwarts, rules bend like rubber around me because in their eyes I can do no wrong. If my life was as great and wonderful as he thinks it is, I would be in danger of having an ego to rival Draco Malfoy's. But Dumbledore…he left me to be…well I'd rather not get into the specifics. I just can't believe he did that. I know you respect Dumbledore and you're probably ready to lecture me on giving teachers proper respect and that he probably has his reasons for doing what he did but in my mind no reason is good enough for what I had to endure for the first eleven years of my life. I needed to let this out and you're the only one I feel I can trust one hundred and forty-five percent. You are the only one I can be sure who won't use the stuff I've told you against me in some future argument no matter how petty. If you want to ignore this letter and pretend it never happened I will understand I just really needed to let this all out before I did something stupid, by accident or on purpose. 

Your Friend For Now and Always 

_Harry_

As Hermione finished her best friend's letter the tears rolled down her cheeks in a constant stream. The pain and anger that was laced into the letter was tangible. She could easily imagine Harry breaking the window, and fixing it again. There were numerous occasions when Harry had gotten really emotional and she had felt his power just rolling off of him.

"Hermione, dear? What's wrong? Why are you crying?" Hermione handed her mother Harry's letter. They had been sitting at the kitchen table just finishing dinner when Harry's letter had arrived. Her mother read the letter, holding her hand over her mouth in shock. 'The poor boy' was all she could think. She pulled her daughter into her arms and comforted her as the young gryffindor cried in anger, frustration, and sorrow for the pain her best friend was constantly forced to go through.

NEXT 


	2. Correspondence

**Chapter 2**

**Correspondence**

Dear Harry 

_ You are my best friend, and after what you have told me any respect I previously had for Albus Dumbledore is now obsolete. I now wish that I had never returned that time turner so I could go back and get you out of the that house thirteen years ago and you could grow up with me and my parents. I understand now why you call Hogwarts your home and not that place. I'm still in shock so you have to forgive me if this letter is a bit disjointed. I showed your letter to my parents, we were just finishing dinner when I received it and letting them read it was the only way to explain the state I was in. To say her and my father were upset would be putting it mildly. I know the Weasleys have first dibs on adopting you but my parents come in close second. In fact they say that if you like you are more than welcome to come spend the summer here with us. You are like the brother I never had Harry, and though they've only met you once my parents feel the need to do anything in their power to help and protect you. The package I have sent you includes sandwiches, soup, and other hearty foods to tide you over for now. I'm sure you can find a way to heat them up, just think of a certain bouncing ferret and use that energy. It is not by chance that the patronous uses a happy memory instead of a bad one. Good, positive energy is ten times stronger than negative energy. If you want to come live with us just let us know and we'll be there as soon as we can. Dad thinks it would take us just over an hour to get to you, forty minutes tops if we leave Mom at home. I love you Harry. You are the strongest person I know, but please don't try to do this on your own. We are here to help you, whatever you want (no matter how small and insignificant it may seem) just let us know and we'll do it for you. For now I'll be researching some nasty hexes that I can place on jerk-off (my new pet name for Dumbledore) come September._

_Your Sister in Heart and Soul_

_Hermione_

Dear Hermione

As much as I would love to spend the summer with you and your family, I don't think that it would be a good idea. You, and your parents, are already in enough danger because of me, I couldn't in good conscience put you in any more. Thankyou for the food, you were right (as always) about positive energy being more powerful than negative enregy. I've been practising constantly and I'm already able to do most second year charms and transfiguration, I haven't been able to do any DAtDA stuff seing as how their aren't any dark creatures here for me to practise against, a fact for which I am thankful. I wonder who our teacher will be next year, seeing as how Moody was actually Bartemus Crouch Jr.? Did you realise that at some point each year, except third, the DAtDA teacher has tried to kill me? And each year, other than third, the only reason I trusted the teacher was because jerk-off trusted them? Based on these facts I have decided that I will only trust someone if my gut tells me I can trust them, I no longer care if **he** trusts them, since he can't be trusted. Do you think you could send me some more food? I was really hungry and ate all the stuff you sent me already. Also could you send me some books to read? Another week or two and I'll be up to fifth year skills and I tend to analyze what happened too much when I don't have anything to do.

Do you know of any curses that makes one's beard fall off? That might be a good one to use on him. Maybe even make it impossible to grow it back? Or that whenever it reaches a certain length it falls off again? I love you too Hermione, you mean the world to me. In my mind's eye my family consists of; you, Snuffles, Professor Lupin, Ron, the rest of the Weasleys and your parents. (wow that's actually a pretty big family, ironic huh?) Sometimes I feel like a mother bear or wolf. Anyone dare to hurt my family, my pack and they have to answer to me and there **will **be hell to pay.

Love

Harry

_Dear Harry_

_Why is it that you insist on making me and my mother cry with every letter you send? I know you aren't doing it on purpose, but still. Of course this time they were tears of happiness and love instead of anger and sorrow as they were last time. I am, as are my parents, honoured to be included in your pack. I think wolf pack describes us better than bears, though a Dragon Clan would be the best comparison._

_Since you haven't actually had a chance to read the multitude of books that I have sent you yet I will just explain what a Dragon Clan is. Dragons as you know are fierce and powerful creatures and could conceptually protect themeselves all on their own, but they don't. Every dragon is a member of a Dragon Clan from birth, though if a young dragon is seperated from his clan then another clan will take him in until he can be reunited with his or her original clan. Clans are not made up of one specific species, this is believed to be a way of compensating for the inherit weakness a specific species may have. Even though members of the clan are often seperated by great distances if one member is threatened the entire clan will come to its defense._

_You are my clan brother Harry and no matter what happens I will be there for you. I, and my parents, are well aware of the danger that Voldemort poses for us being part of **your** clan but you matter more to us. Not just to us but to the Weasleys, to Sirius, and to Professor Lupin, you are a member our clan and you have not only been threatened but you have been harmed. And as a member of our clan that is not acceptable. Voldemort may think you as an individual are the greatest threat to his power and in part you are, you are because with you comes a number of powerful wizards who will stand by you no matter what. I know you may be wary of Ron's loyalty after what happened last year, but you didn't see him pacing the common room at two in the morning before each of the challenges. He wasn't jealous of you, he was worried that something might happen and that he might lose his best friend. He loves you Harry. To him you are just as much his brother as Fred, George and all the others are. I think at times he feels more protective of you than he does Ginny, mainly because he knows you didn't have loving parents to grow up under like they did._

_I know that I know very little about what happened but I know you and I know that you did everything you could to not only save Cedric but to prevent Voldemort's resurrection as well. You cannot blame yourself Harry. It is not your fault that Voldemort is obsessed with you, you shouldn't be expected to be able stop him. Fully grown, fully trained wizards and witches are scared to speak his name (which is completely idiotic) let alone face him, who are they to expect you to be able to defeat him? You may be the boy who lived, you may have been able to get away from him a few times but you are only fourteen years old. You haven't even written your O.W.L.'s. Next time you or someone else places their ridiculous expections on you say 'hey, most kids my age don't worry about more than test scores and whether or not anyone will notice that pimple that showed up last night, not about how they are going to stop the most powerful dark wizard ever, so fuck off'_

_I hope you enjoy the books I've sent you, let me know when you need more. I also included some order forms I picked up last time I was in Diagon Alley so you can get your supplies and maybe some clothes from Madame Milkin. I sent enough food to last the week but if you run out sooner just send me an owl._

_Your Clan Sister_

_Hermione_

Dear Ron

I don't know if Hermione has told you yet but the great jerk-off (also known as Albus Dumbledore) has decided that not only am I not allowed to go to the Burrow this summer but I'm not even allowed to venture outside the house. The Dursleys of course took this as permission to lock me up in the attic all summer.

The good part is that they can't put bars up on the windows to prevent me from letting Hedwig out because one of the windows faces out onto the street. Jerk-off can't put up wards either since if I don't keep in constant contact with Snuffles then the man will go beserk and be liable to do something that will get him caught. He did try and order me not to write anyone other than Snuffles (who I'm supposed to lie to and tell that my summer is going simply splendidly) on the account that someone might notice her flying out my window. So on the off chance that a death eater happens to walk by my house, dodging the million and one protective wards surrounding the place, and some how knows what my owl looks like and Hedwig actually allows herself to be seen I am not allowed to write letters to my friends. Letters which are at the moment the only thing keeping me sane. In case you are confused on my response it was pretty much fuck off you asshole (though I didn't actually say this to him).

Believe it or not Hermione's the one that nicknamed him jerk-off. I think she's pretty much decided that even though he isn't enemy number one, that spot's revserved for ol' moldy voldie, he's pretty high up in the ranks. This is because not only did he leave me with a bunch of magic-hating muggles and force me to return to them every summer, it turns out he knew all about the things they did to me growing up. These are the things that cause me to have nightmares at night. I know I always told you they were about voldy and I'm sorry I lied to you but in the beginning I was scared that if you knew what they had done to me that you would think me unclean and not want to be my friend. I later realised that wouldn't have happened but by that point I just wanted to forget it ever happened since they hadn't actually done anything since Hagrid showed up with my letter. Hermione's currently researching hexes that she can place on jerk-off.

There's something Hermione mentioned that I wanted to tell you. We were talking (well writing) about how protective I feel about you, your family, her, her parents, snuffles and moony and I said that I felt like a mother bear or a member of wolf pack. She had a better comparison though, a Dragon Clan. She described to me the aspects of a Dragon Clan and she was right, everything fit perfectly with the way I feel about you guys. What I'm saying is that you Ronald Weasley are my clan brother and no matter what happens in the future remember that. Know that no matter what I will be by your side supporting you in whatever you do and fighting along side you through whatever dangers you may be forced to faced. For you and the rest of your family are my clan and noone, **noone** hurts my clan.

Your Clan Brother

Harry

Next 


	3. The Weasleys Learn the Truth

Chapter Three

The Weasleys Learn the Truth

Ron had been sitting on his bed polishing the new broom that his brothers Fred and George had bought him when Hedwig arrived with Harry's letter. The burrow was full to the brim this summer, with Charlie and Bill both coming home to be closer to the family during the coming dark times, so it was no surprise that when he entered the kitchen that his mother wasn't the only one there. Charlie was there as well and he was the first to notice his entrance and the stunned look on Ron's face.

"What's the matter little bro'? You look like someone just told you Santa Clause isn't real."

"They hurt him. The nightmares? They weren't about you-know-who they were about what they used to do to him. And that ASSHOLE KNEW!" Ron was shaking by this point and the fist that was clenching his best friend's letter was turning white.

Charlie was confused not understanding whom his brother was talking about but Molly Weasley knew. Her youngest son had confided in her about the nightmares that plagued his best friend. She had always had her suspicions that those muggle relatives had been worse to the boy than he let on, but to have solid confirmation broke her heart. "Who knew Ron? Who knew that the Dursleys were hurting Harry?"

"Dumbledore, the fucking jerk-off. He knew and he continued to send him back there. And now he's telling Harry that the only letters he's allowed to send are to snuffles and are to tell him how great his summer is, even though the jerk-off conspired with the muggle bastards to lock him up in an attic for the summer. I hate him, Mom, I truly do." Ron broke down crying at this point and Molly pulled him into her arms, her own cheeks stained with tears.

Charlie sat at the table in shock, "Harry's relatives hurt him?" Molly just nodded not being able to find her voice. "And Dumbledore knew?"

"Apparently." She said weakly

"Excuse me." Charlie got up from the table and walked out to the backyard.

In behind the Weasley's home was a large oak tree, this tree was said to be planted by Archibald Weasley some hundred years ago for his new born son so that the boy would have a tree that he could climb when he got a bit older. The tree sported the cursory tree house, which had been used by generation upon generation of Weasley children. That fall found Arthur Weasley commenting on how few leaves there were to clean up now that the tree was no more than a blackened stump, and no one ever wondered again why the oldest son got along so well with dragons.

When Charlie walked back into the house the number of people present had increased to include every Weasley that had been in a one mile radius during his temper tantrum. Meaning everyone except Dad and Percy who were currently working at the ministry. Ron was now sitting on the couch hugging his knees to his chest with the twins sitting on either side of him both sporting dark looks that did not bode well for one Albus Dumbledore. Ginny was sitting with Molly in the large overstuffed chair that sat beside the fireplace; the tears were still rolling down her face. Bill was sitting on one of the footstools glaring at the carpet like it was the cause of all Harry's problems. While both Charlie and Bill hardly knew the black-haired teen they had both accepted him as a member of the family and an affront to him was as good as an affront to anyone else in their close knit family.

"Charlie?" Ron's normally strong vibrant voice was quiet and shaky.

"Yeah, Ron?"

"What's a Dragon Clan?"

Of all the questions he had been expecting that was not one of them. "A Dragon Clan? Well, you see even though dragons on their own are strong powerful each breed has inherent weaknesses. Like the Ironbelly while large and able to crush many things merely by stepping on them it is very slow and if it gets injured is very vulnerable to attack from other creatures and wizards. It is believed that in order to make up for these weaknesses the dragon's form something best described as a clan which are made up of a variety of dragon breeds. If one gets injured then other dragons from his clan will come and protect him until he has healed. Also if someone, or some thing, attacks a dragon then the dragon will most likely call out to his or her clan and then the entire clan will come to their aid, and trust me you do **not** want to mess with an entire clan they are very protective of each other." Charlie paused for a moment and then asked "Why?"

"Harry in his letter said that to him we were his clan. Well us, Hermione, her parents, Professor Lupin, and umm someone else."

"Wow that's a really big compliment if he knew what it meant." Charlie responded rather stunned, he hadn't really known how strongly the boy felt about them.

"Hermione had described it to him and he said it fit perfectly with how he felt about us. And that no one would hurt his clan and get away with it."

"He's probably referring to you-know-who." Ginny spoke up from her mother's side

"Yeah, he told me once in second year that he's worried that you-know-who will come after us since we're the closest thing to family he's ever had." Fred said with smile

"Yeah, other than a certain someone he really has no other family."

"Okay, I've gotta ask who is this other person you keep referring to, though never naming, and why would Harry consider Professor Lupin a part of his clan? He only taught us for one year just like every other defence teacher we've had." George spoke out sounding slightly exasperated

"Umm, Mom?" Ron looked to his mother not sure whether or not he should spill the beans about Snuffles

"It's probably best they know, this way when they do meet the man they don't hex first and ask questions later." Molly smiled reassuringly to Ron and turned to the rest of her children. "The other person Ron keeps referring to is Harry's godfather, Sirius Black." The five children who had no knowledge of Sirius' innocence sat up ramrod straight and looked in disbelief at their mother, surely the woman wasn't serious.

"Mom, Sirius Black is a murderer! He's the one that betrayed Harry's parents! The other's may not be old enough to remember what happened but me and Bill are, there is no way in hell that he should be considered part of the clan." Charlie had quickly accepted the idea of them being a part of a clan involving Harry and the Grangers, but Sirius Black? That was just ludicrous!

"Charlie, this is why we are telling you this now and not waiting until you have the opportunity to meet Sirius. Sirius Black is innocent." Five jaws dropped at this statement. "Peter Pettigrew was the secret keeper, they switched at the last minute. Sirius went after him to get revenge but didn't realise that he had a wand hidden behind his back. Pettigrew then accused Sirius of betraying Lily and James before cutting off his own finger, blowing up the street, and running off into the sewers in his animagus form."

"His animagus form? But I looked up the six animagus after McGonagall gave that lecture and Peter Pettigrew's name wasn't on the list." Ginny asked

Ron spoke up at this point, "Peter and Sirius along with Harry's father along became illegal animagi in their fifth year in order to keep their best friend Remus Lupin company on the nights of the full moon."

"Which is why Professor Lupin is part of the clan." George said understanding

"Right."

"What were their forms?" Bill asked speaking up for the first time

"Well Harry's dad was a stag, Sirius is a large black dog that looks remarkably like a grim, and _Pettigrew_," Ron spit out the last name "was a rat."

"Wow, a stag, a dog, a rat, and a werewolf. Now that must have been an odd sight to anyone who saw them." Charlie commented

Ron couldn't resist letting out his last tidbit of information, everyone was so upset about the news about Harry and the twins reactions would be priceless. "Yep, they had nicknames too. Prongs, Padfoot, Wormtail and Moony." He broke out in a grin as the twins started sputtering.

"You mean Harry's dad and his friends were, are Prongs Padfoot Wormtail and Moony."

"Yep. Also known as the Marauders." He responded his grin growing even wider. Molly caught on to what was happening the marauders started Hogwarts when she was in seventh year but they had already gotten quite a name for themselves as practical jokers by the end of the school year. It figured that those two would find out about them and most likely idolize them.

"I don't believe it."

"The little brat."

"Why didn't he say anything?"

"Harry's dad was Prongs."

"That makes Harry a true second generation marauder."

"Wait a minute, Professor Lupin was a marauder? Quiet, gentle Professor Lupin? No way."

The twins probably would have continued had Ginny not interrupted. "What's the big deal? I don't get why you two are flipping out over a couple of nicknames."

"A couple of nicknames? These are no ordinary nicknames my dear Ginny. No these nicknames belong to legends, heroes, gods among men. Every prankster worth anything at Hogwarts knows of the great Marauders. They are idolized; they completed feats beyond those of we mere mortals. They went to places more perilous then one's mind can imagine and lived to tell the tale. They played pranks that were so grand, so well thought out that entire houses were put to shame. No these are no mere nicknames, these are the names of great men whose stories will live on through out the ages as those to be worshipped." The twins switched back in forth through their soliloquy of sorts, and Ron was on the floor laughing by the end.

"Oh god. I wish Harry could have been here to hear that. He would of just died." Ron wiped the tears away from his eyes as he sat back down on the couch.

"Oh don't worry Ron he'll be able to hear it, as will we again and again and again." Charlie held up a small recording device that he kept on hand just in case. "I recognized the names, from the stories that were still popular when I started at Hogwarts and I figured these two would have heard of them and started hero worshiping them."

"Sweet. I'll have to send a copy of that along with my reply."

"Wait, how do you know all of this?" Bill asked

"Remember when Sirius escaped azkaban and everyone thought he did it so he could kill Harry?" Everyone nodded in response. "Well it turns out that when Fudge went to check on the prisoners he had a copy of the Daily Prophet and when Sirius asked him for it he gave it to him. The reason Sirius asked for the paper was because on the front page was a picture of a family, and sitting on the shoulder of one of the boys was Peter Pettigrew in his animagus form."

"You don' t mean…." Ginny trailed off

"Yep, scabbers. When Sirius realized that his godson was sleeping no more then a few feet away from the man who betrayed his parents during the school year he knew he had to get out and save him. With that in mind he slipped out of azkaban in his animagus form and made his way to Hogwarts, with a slight side trip to Privet Drive where he scared the crap out of Harry."

"So when he accidentally attacked you in the dorms instead of Harry, it really wasn't an accident he was just going for scabbers not you?" Fred piped up

"Yep."

"That still doesn't explain how you guys found out about all this." Bill pointed out

"Well on the night that Buckbeak was to be executed, that was Hagrid's hippogriff that had attacked Draco Malfoy earlier in the year," he clarified for Charlie and Bill who wouldn't know the story surrounding the creature, "me, Hermione, and Harry went to visit Hagrid and while we were there Hermione found scabbers hiding in a cup. After we left his hut scabbers tried to get away and I was attacked by a large black dog that dragged me off through the tunnel under the womping willow. Harry and Hermione followed and by the time they got to the end of the tunnel the dog had transformed into none other than Sirius Black. The three of us fought him thinking he was trying to kill Harry, he had taken our wands but we managed to get them back and Harry was standing there his wand pointed at Sirius' heart when Professor Lupin came in. He had seen Sirius and Pettigrew on a map he had," Ron gave Fred and George a quick look each confirming that he was talking about the Marauder's map, "he took our wands for a bit until we agreed to listen to what him and Sirius had to say. Eventually, with a short interruption from Snape which resulted in him being knocked unconscious, they explained how they had become illegal animagi and how Pettigrew had actually been the secret keeper."

"You mean to say you were attacked and kidnapped by someone thought to be an insane mass murderer, you fought with said insane mass murderer, watched your best friend nearly kill said man,"

"I would have helped him if my leg hadn't been broken, I did help a bit but it standing on it made me kind of woozy." The others just looked at Ron like he'd grown an extra head. "We thought he'd killed Harry's parents and had come back to finish Harry off, you think we were going to just let him?"

"Okay you helped your best friend, whom we consider to be part of the family, almost kill someone. You knocked the most hated teacher in the school, don't try and deny it Ron I saw your eyes twinkle as you said that. And you NEVER TOLD ANY OF US!" Fred finished off with a shout.

"Well, Mom knows." Ron said meekly

None of the Weasley had heard their mother snort before and it was quite the odd sound. "I know because two weeks ago when I was in hospital wing with Harry, Dumbledore," all seven faces darkened at the mention of the headmasters name, "told me. Not because you saw fit to tell me." Ron looked at his mother meekly knowing she had him. "Is there anything else you've been neglecting to tell us Ronald?"

"Umm, okay first year. Fought a troll in the girl's loo, Quirrel tried to kill Harry by hexing his broom, ended up in a small room with a giant three headed dog, looked in the mirror of Erised that Harry found, Harry ran into you-know-who in the forbidden forest though I wasn't actually there for that, snuck past said three headed dog, got stuck in some devil's snare, played in giant life size chess game set up by McGonagall and ended up having to sacrifice myself so that Harry could go on and fight you-know-who who had been inhabiting Professor Quirrell's body. Gave Harry and 'mione a pretty good scare when I got knocked unconscious by the other sides queen. Uhh, second year let's see are we starting once school officially started or before hand as well?" At the glare he received from everyone he decided to start from before school officially started.

"Well me and Harry took Dad's car to get to Hogwarts that year cause a house elf had sealed the gateway to the platform. We nearly got run over by the express on the way there, then the car's flying mechanism started fail just as we reached the school, we ended up landing in the womping willow which didn't take to kindly to that, a jinxed bludger nearly killed Harry. Ummm, we used polyjuice to find out if Draco Malfoy was the heir of slytherin, we had defence with Lockhart that was pretty dangerous at times, Hermione got frozen by the basilisk, me and Harry went into the forest following spiders under Hagrid's direction. I love the half-giant and all but I'm never trusting him when it comes to creatures again, seeing as his directions ended up with us in the middle of an acromantula colony," Ron gave shiver at this memory, "the car saved us that time."

"You all know how we went down into the chamber then to save Ginny and Lockhart tried to perform a memory charm on me and Harry but it back fired cause my wand was broken. You all know about everything that happened in third year with Sirius and all except when the dementor's made Harry fall off his broom when he was like fifty feet up in the air, Professor Lupin almost ate me when he transformed on the way back to Hogwarts, though it really wasn't his fault and he feels really bad about so don't get upset with him. And oh ya, the dementor's tried to give me Harry and 'mione the kiss when they found us with Sirius. Last year was pretty quiet really, Harry and I were fighting most of the year cause of the tournament, so other then a few fights with Malfoy nothing really happened."

"Bloody Hell, Ron!" Bill exclaimed jumping up from his stool. "That's it I'm writing the school to offer my services for the defence position just so I can watch over you three. In four years you guys have had more near-death experiences then most Aurors! I can't even count the number of times you've nearly been eaten and these are just the incidents that you find note worthy enough to remember at the moment. Merlin knows what else you three have been up to, that has just been noted mundane compared to everything else."

The four youngest Weasley's just stared up at their big brother with hopeful eyes, "Really Bill? You're really going to take the defence position?" Ron asked hoping with all his might that he had heard his brother right.

Bill looked at his younger siblings, "You guys didn't hear a single word I said after that did you?" All four shook their heads.

"Please Bill."

"You'd be soo much better than all the others, well except for Professor Lupin maybe, he was really good."

"Come on Bill you gotta, you can't just tease us like that."

"We promise to pay attention and not act out." Fred finished off, "Right guys?" He looked around to the other three who were all nodding their heads so hard that they would have fallen off, had that been possible.

Bill looked at his younger sibling and knew he couldn't deny them this little joy, and hell it would allow him to look after the little buggers. "Sure, I'll write the school later today though I'm not sure I qualify for the position."

"If an idiot Gilderoy Lockhart can get the job then I'm sure you won't have any trouble dear." Molly told her son, grimacing at the name of the idiot who nearly got her daughter killed. It comforted her to think of one of her eldest being at the school to keep an eye on things.

"Well then, I guess I have a letter to write." Bill said heading off upstairs.

"Yeah, me too I'm going to write Harry. Can you make a copy of the twins' reactions Charlie so I can send it to him?"

"Sure thing. I think I've got some books and stuff Harry would like to read. You know I might just write him a letter myself, if I'm a member of his clan then I should probably get to know him a bit better. Do you mind if I send it along with yours?"

"Of course not, Harry'll love it."

"Let me know before you send everything off Ron, I'm going to make Harry a basket up. If he can't come to the burrow then a bit of the burrow will come to him." Molly said as she headed into the kitchen making a mental list of everything she wanted to put in the basket and decided to write a letter of her own to the boy she considered to be her eighth child.

"I'll help you Mom." Ginny said following her mother into the kitchen.

"Us too Ron. We've got some stuff for Harry too might as well send it all together." Fred, or was it George? Piped up, at their brothers' looks he added "No tricks, just a letter and a journal we found in Diagon Alley the other day we thought he would like."

"Great, it'll be like an early birthday for him."

"Tell him I'm honoured to be part of his clan and that I hope to see in the fall at Hogwarts as his new teacher."

Ron jogged up the stairs to his bedroom; he absently pushed the new broom off the bed as he got down to the business of writing his best friend.

NEXT 


	4. A Letter to Remus Lupin

Chapter Four

A Letter to Remus Lupin

Professor Lupin

I know I'm not supposed to know that you are expecting a house guest this summer but I couldn't help over hearing as the matter was discussed by my bed when I was in the hospital wing. I don't know what the headmaster has told you but he has the Dursleys confining me to the attic of their home. The Weasleys and the Grangers have all sent me food, life essentials, and books (though I'm pretty sure 'mione considers those as life essentials). The books from the Weasley's are all about Quidditch (Ron) pranks (the twins) curse breaking (Bill) and Dragons (Charlie). 'Mione sent me a rather large variety; everything from transfiguration, to potions, to DADA, to charms and history. I've used one of the charms to make sure that you are the only one able to read this letter. It would be very bad if Voldemort, one of his minions, Dumbledore, or even Sirius were to read this letter.

This summer, while still only a couple of weeks old, has been quite… educational. I'm not sure if I should list things in the order that I learned about them or in the order of importance. The only problem is what you consider important. For some learning of how Dumbledore betrayed my trust might not be very important, while discovering just how powerful I really am would be. I guess the one main ruling factor in everything is the desire I've always had to have a family. A family that would care for me and protect me from harm. I thought I had found one, well as close to one as I could hope, in the headmaster but I discovered this summer that he is just as bad if not worse then the Dursleys. (Which led to me breaking and repairing one of the windows here in the attic, without my wand.) I know I told you back in third year that the Dursleys really weren't all that bad and that they had never actually hurt me but I have to tell you now sir that I lied. I lied my bloody arse off. When I was growing up being locked in the closet was more of a reward then a punishment, because at least that meant Vernon wasn't hurting me. Please don't tell Siri about this, they haven't touched me since Hagrid brought my Hogwart's letter and I know he would do something rash if he found out. Not just to the Dursleys either, it turns out that the headmaster knew exactly how the Dursleys treated me when I was growing up. If Sirius knew that not only did he not do anything to help me but that he tried to blackmail me with the information, then I'm sure he would try to hurt Dumbledore, and he needs all the help he can get to stay free. Also that would put a damper on all the plans that Hermione's currently concoting for her revenge on the old bastard.

The other thing I realised this summer was that I no longer needed to long for a family. I had already created the next best thing, a human dragon clan. It started forming on the train ride to Hogwart's in my first year when I became best friends with Ron. Then at Halloween Hermione joined Ron as a member of my 'family'. That summer when the Weasleys rescued me from the Dursleys they (the Weasleys) became a part of it, and this summer Hermione's parents joined. 'Mione says they were absolutely livid when they found out about the Dursleys and Dumbledore.

The only two people who I couldn't figure out when they went from friend to family were you and Siri. I wanted to say that it was at the end of third year but I already trusted you completely on the train to Hogwart's. I figured it out though, you've always been family. I can remember laying in the closet dreaming that I was on the back of some great black animal or on the shoulders of someone with sandy brown hair. Nothing could go wrong in these dreams, everything was right in the world and I didn't have a care in the world. These dreams were my favourites along with dreams of flying around in the night sky and sitting on someone's lap listening to them read out loud to me. When I was lonely I would pretend that instead of lying on my cot I was actually on a hard strong chest and that two sets of arms were about to wrap around me and hold me tight until I fell asleep. I knew that these people weren't my parents but I knew that these people loved me and wouldn't let anything harm me. I did this so often that I knew these arms like I had known my parents' and I could even imagined how the people smelled; like fallen leaves, dew soaked grass, and firecrackers, with the slight undertone of wet fur. You two, even though you couldn't physically be there, protected me. You gave me hope that somewhere out there somebody loved me. On the dark nights when all I wanted was to stop living, I would remember that there was someone out there that cared if I made it to my next birthday, because there was no way that I could have made up the feeling of being loved. You two were my family, even when I didn't know who you were.

I just wanted to make sure that you knew that you have been a part of my family, my clan for as long as I can remember, just in case He finds me this summer and I don't get to tell you in person. Tell Siri as much, or as little of this as you think is a safe, you know him much better than I do. Please take care of yourself, and Siri, you two mean the world to me.

Love Harry

A/N Sorry for the amount of time it took me to put this chapter out I had trouble getting it up to my standards. I want to give an extra special thank-you to **Jaded-1** your comment about repeating the correspondence part really helped me figure this out, I simply couldn't figure out how to get Harry to tell Sirius and Remus everything. And don't worry I'm being extra careful not to 'short-circuit' the fic.

Thanks to everyone else that reviewed, (Willow Seras, Carrie, unknown, **Cynical Slytherin**, and last but not least **Beth**)

NEXT 


	5. Saving Harry

Chapter Five

Saving Harry

It was a few weeks later that the next major event of Harry's summer occurred. He had fallen into a routine of studying, exercising, and writing letters. Remus had written him back the day after he had sent him the letter. The werewolf had stated that it was a good thing he wasn't anywhere near the headmaster and that it was impossible to apparate into the man's office because for the first time since he had been bitten he had been willing to let the wolf take over. Luckily Sirius had already arrived at the cottage where Remus lived and was able to keep him from leaving. Apparently it had taken him awhile to get him to say anything more than 'I'm going to kill him', 'how dare he', 'I'm going to kill him', 'we trusted him', and 'I'm going to kill him'. When he had finally calmed down he had had no choice but to tell Sirius the entire story. Then it was Remus preventing Sirius from going to kill Dumbledore. Their reply included a promise to visit and to kill the Drusleys if they so much as laid a hand on him. Remus also ordered him to stop calling him Professor and sir, stating that he had three choices Remus, Remy, or Mooney.

Harry had found that by following his new routine that by the end of the day he would be both physically and mentally exhausted, allowing him to sleep soundly for the first time in years. The fact that he had not had what one would call a full nights sleep since long before he started Hogwarts definitely had a lasting effect on his internal clock. After three to four hours of peaceful sleep he would be wide awake and ready to meet the day. He did his best to keep distracted but often thoughts of the possibilities for Voldemort and Dumbledore's next moves would invade his thoughts. It was the Dumbledore who worried him the most at the moment, as the man had the political power to ruin the lives of all those he held dear, while Voldemort was still recovering from the ritual that gave him his body back.

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While Auroleus von Hohenheim was never a headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry it was not uncommon for him to be seen visiting Headmaster Fortescue's portrait as the two had been close friends during their lives. It was tradition for the current potion's professor to keep Auroleus' portrait in their private workroom, not only because it allowed the man a portal into the school but also the man was famous for his work in the field. It was pure chance that lead to the painting being in Headmaster's office when Minister Fudge paid a visit one warm July day. Though were it not for his presence things would have turned out much worse for young Harry as the first thing Auroleus did once the meeting was over was hurry to inform the current potion master of what he had overheard. He knew that while to the public Severus Snape may appear to detest the boy, the old master had too many times listened to the younger one mutter worriedly over the child's welfare to believe that man did not care deeply for him.

"Severus, cast a stasis spell on that and get over here." He spoke loudly seeing him working on a healing draft for the hospital wing.

"What is it? Can't you see I'm busy, a stasis spell will ruin everything."

"I know very well that a stasis spell won't harm your potion boy, I have a matter of great urgency to discuss with you."

Severus cast the spell knowing he had no chance of fooling the old master. "Well, what is it?"

"I was just in the headmaster's office and overheard in him talking to that incompetent buffoon Fudge. The minister threatened that unless Dumbledore allowed the Potter boy to be committed to the psychiatric ward of St. Mungo's indefinitely he would make sure that his personal assistant, a Delores Umbridge, would be appointed to the defence position."

"The headmaster laughed in his face right?" Severus sneered at the idea of some ministry idiot working in the school.

"One would think that would have been his reaction, but unfortunately one would be wrong."

"Bloody hell. Did they say how long before they committed him?"

"Tomorrow afternoon." Had there been an audience greater than Auroleus even a Slytherin student would have run scared at the dark look on their favourite professor's face.

"I will need an excuse to leave the grounds for the night."

"You have a plan then?"

"The makings of one. The headmaster will know that no one has contacted me by floo and that I have not received any owls so I cannot say either of those." Auroleus looked at him strangely at this comment. "Dumbledore only trusts me as far as he can spell me, he monitors all of my communications to the outside world."

"All of them?"

"What else is there beyond owls and flooing?"

"House-elves"

"You truly have lost it old man. The house-elves are all loyal to Dumbledore as he is the headmaster."

"Not all of them, there is one whose first loyalty is to Mr. Potter. If we explained to him the circumstances he could arrange for whomever it is you wish to see to contact you via floo and give a viable excuse for the night."

"I should have known the boy would have turned at least one of them to his side. Which one is it?"

"I believe his name is Dobby."

"Dobby, if I could have your presence in my workroom." Severus called for the house-elf, and within moments Dobby was there. He had heard rumors of an elf wearing clothes but he had yet to see the elf in person, were the situation any less dire he would have found the sight quite comical.

"What is sir needing of Dobby?"

"Dobby, I've been told that your first loyalty is to Harry Potter."

"Yes's sir. Harry Potter freed Dobby from his old master so now Dobby waits for Harry to finish school so that's maybe he can works for Harry."

"So if I were to tell you that I needed a favour but that in order to keep Harry safe the headmaster could never find out that would not be a problem?"

"If it's to help Harry than its no problem at all."

"Good, I need to you to the home of Ron Weasley. Do you know where that is?"

"Harry's Wheezy house? Yes Dobby's knowing where that is."

"Perfect, now I need you to go there right away and talk to Ron's older brother Charlie and tell him to fire call me asking me to come over there, tell him that the excuse should require me to be there until morning at least."

"Dobby's going right away Master Snape." With that Dobby vanished. Severus looked at Auroleus' portrait only to find it empty once again, hurrying he went into his sitting room to await Charlie's call. Shortly after the second oldest Weasley had graduated and gotten a carreer as a dragon keeper the young man had contacted Severus offering up some of the remains from a dragon that had died for use as potion ingredients. The ingredients were too precious to send via owl so, depending on whether school was in session or not, either Charlie or Severus would travel to the other's location to hand off the ingredients. Unbeknownst to most, namely the headmaster, the two had become close friends. Severus felt comfortable venting about his imprisonment in the castle to the red head, and in turn Charlie would unleash his frustrations in relation to growing up in a too full household.

"Severus? Are you there?" Charlie's head appeared in the man's fireplace, while it appeared quite calm on the suface Severus could see the nervous glint in man's eyes.

"Hello Charlie. I thought you were visiting with your family and that you would not have any ingredients for me until the fall?"

"No, you're right I'm at the burrow right now. I was actually wondering if I could ask you for a favour."

"Is everything all right?"

"Depends on your definition of all right. The twins were concoting something in their bedroom when everything went haywire, luckily they both just got their apparation liscences and were able to get out before the cauldron exploded but Mum doesn't want anyone going back in before we're sure that it's safe, and well…"

"You want me to make sure that whatever those two created is not lethal?"

"Or cause them permant harm, temporarily is fine but you know how my Mum gets."

"Yes, you have told me a number of stories along those lines. I shall be there promptly, just allow me time to gather together some supplies and get to the edge of the apparation wards."

"Ok, see you soon." Charlie gave Severus a quick smile before winking out of sight.

It was within the half hour that a resounding crack was heard at the Burrow heralding the potion master's arrival on its door step. Charlie had the door open before Severus even had a chance to knock, pulling the man into the living room by his arm he immediately began questioning Severus while seemingly checking him for injury at the same time. "What's the old coot done now? He didn't hurt you did he? If he has I swear…"

"Charlie I'm fine. It's Mr. Potter who requires our immediate attention at the moment."

"Harry?" The voice of the youngest piped up from somewhere behind Severus. Looking around he saw himself surronded by all nine members of the Weasley family, each with the same look of concern plastered on their faces. Something tweaked inside him at the sight, here was an entire family full to the brim with members but when given the chance they had adopted another into their fold. Sometimes he wondered what it was that he had done to make him so undeserving of such a fate, a loving family who would do anything for him.

"Severus?" Charlie lay his hand on Severus' arm pulling him out of that dark place he so often lost himself in. He may not have a family but he did have a friend and that was a start. "What's wrong with Harry?"

"Nothing." Confused looks appeared on the faces around him. "But there is something severly wrong with Headmaster Dumbledore. The man has agreed to allow Minister Fudge to committ Potter to St. Mungo's in order to keep one of the minister's underlings from taking the defence position." Seeing their shocked and worried expressions Severus quickly continued it up with his plan to help the boy "I thought you might know someone who might be able to hide and possible train him while keeping him out of the country."

"And out of Dumbledore's hands." Charlie quickly calmed upon realising that Severus had a plan. "Very cunning, Sev."

Severus glowered at the nickname but let it pass as he always did, "Well I wasn't a Slytherin for nothing you know."

A/N That's it for now, there will be more to come, I would like to thank lmill123 for reminding me that I had yet to finish this fic, if by chance there is anyone out there who is will willing to beta for me or maybe allow me to bounce ideas off them please leave me a review saying with your email addie (the bots go directly to their own little folder, and any unknown addies are likely to get missed as the go directly to my bulk mail.


	6. Springing Harry

Chapter Six

**Springing Harry**

It was dark by the time they arrived at the Dursley household, but since this helped them sneak into the house undetected by the people Dumbledore undoubtedly had watching the place it worked well with their plan. It had been decided that the smaller the group the less chance of them being detected so in the end it was Charlie, Bill and the twins who went. Severus had returned to castle since it was dangerous for him to be caught by either side helping the boy-who-lived leave the country. They wouldn't be able to use their wands without being detected once they crossed the wards surrounding number four so the twins would be picking any muggle locks that they encountered getting Harry out as well as creating distractions should they need a quick getaway. Molly had suggested using some of their more experimental pranks on the Dursleys an idea everyone agreed with, no matter how surprised they were to hear it come from the matriarch. Not knowing what sort of wards the headmaster had placed on the building they decided it was best Bill come along as he was the expert in the family when it came to breaking into magically sealed places.

The twins made quick work of the lock on the backdoor and the foursome was sneaking past the living room where Vernon and Petunia were sitting watching television. They snuck up the stairs the twins having remembered to warn their brothers about the squeaky step. As they reached the second floor they heard a toilet being flushed so they quickly dodged into the nearest darkened room. The small room was filled with broken things that covered not only the floor and shelving but the desk and bed as well. Bill noticed the locks on the door and let out a whispered question to the others "Why would put locks on a room that only has broken stuff in it?"

"This was Harry's bedroom after he got his invitation letter, they used to lock him in here. There were bars on the windows at one point at well but we had to pull them off when we came for him a few years ago." One of the twins explained.

"The locked him in a room and he says they haven't done anything to him since he got his letter?"

"Bill, I think you're underestimating how bad things were **before** he got his letter. You've never seen Harry mid-nightmare, he had one while we were at the quidditch cup last summer and it was bad enough when we thought it was to do with you-know-who but knowing it was caused by that pig downstairs makes it a hundred times worse. It's a miracle that he survived let alone turn out as well as he did."

While the older two wanted to interrogate their siblings on just what they thought had happened to Harry when he was growing up, the sound of Dudley making his way back to his bedroom made them remember that time was a precious commodity that they had little of. With a look that said they would be finishing the discussion later Bill motioned for the other's to keep moving. Fred lead the way to a door at the end of the hallway that was covered in locks similar to those on Harry's old bedroom door. He quickly worked through them and the group headed up the spiral staircase that was hidden behind the door. The group tried to be as quiet as possible expecting Harry to be asleep by this point.

They of course were wrong, Harry was wide-awake and waiting for the group to reach the top step. He had detected four magical signatures entering the house, he had no idea they were the Weasley's since he had not seen them since he had gained this level of control of his magic. As the four reached the top of the stairs Harry was ready with some of the pranks the twins had sent him. He had covered the windows with his robes so it was to dark to see anything more than the vague outlines of the intruders. He launched his first line of attack, exploding snap cards rigged to spew dye at the victims, having expected Harry to be asleep the boys were not prepared for the attack. The others quickly ducked back down and to the side but George, who was the leader, was covered in a dark dye. Charlie realized he needed a quick way to let Harry know that they were friend and not foe. Norbert was the first thing that came to mind that would help prove their identity. "Norbert, Harry Norbert."

Harry paused with his hand poised mid-throw, four people one of whom knew about Norbert. He studied the signatures closer, not just four people but four people who have signatures with similar feels, two of which are nearly identical. "How did you get to Hogwart's to collect him?"

"We used brooms."

Harry decided to ask questions relating to tiny details that no interrogator would think to ask about to determine whether these were real Weasleys or impostors. "Where did you find the Marauder's Map?"

"Filche's office."

"What did you tell Ginny you would send her in first year?"

As the dyed twin answered a toilet seat both a smile and a blush spread themselves across Harry's face. "Sorry about that, I didn't know who you were."

"Perfectly fine Harry, these two don't get enough of their own medicine." Bill laughed as he made his way back up the stairs "Good job defending yourself, how'd you know we were coming though?"

"I was meditating extending my magic out when you entered the house, I could feel your guys magic." Harry turned on the small lamp that Hermione had sent him so that they could actually see each other. This of course caused everyone but George to break out in suppressed laughter as the realized that the dye had in fact been purple.

"Cool, and how did you figure out it was us."

"Well all of your signatures have a similar feel and the twins' are almost identical, so I just figured that it was likely you guys."

"When you say almost identical do you mean that you still can't tell the difference?" George asked

"Nope, and unless you want me to call you grape-boy from now on I would recommend letting me know which one you are."

He humphed "You won't tell people and ruin our fun will you?"

"And miss all the laughs caused by the confusion? Merlin, no."

"Brill, I'm George."

"As much as I don't want to break up the fun we did come here for a reason." Charlie interjected quickly quelling the light mood

"Yeah isn't it kind of dangerous for you guys to be here, what with jerk off keeping such a close eye on me?"

"The cost if we did nothing outweighed any potential risk." Charlie explained

Harry's face quickly contorted in worry. "What's happened now?"

"We just found out from a reliable source that Dumbledore has agreed to allow Fudge to have you committed to St. Mungo's psychiatric ward, indefinitely."

"Bloody hell. What am I going to do?" Harry ran a hand over the top of his head "Fuck. When?"

"Tomorrow afternoon, don't worry Harry we have a plan." Charlie reassured him

"You do?"

"Of course. As members of your clan there's no way we could let them do that to you. I've got to ask you though, what's your opinion on Romania?"

"Romania? You mean where you used to work?"

"Yeah, I have some friends there that owe me some favours that I could get to take you in. I'd have to stay here in order to keep from raising Dumbledore's, sorry jerk off's suspicion."

"What kind of friends? Other dragon keepers?"

"Uh actually, it'd be with some unspeakables."

"Unspeakables?" Bill exclaimed and the quickly lowered his voice, "How the hell did you wind up with unspeakables owing you favours?"

"I'm actually sworn to secrecy on the matter, I promise you can trust them."

"Okay how are we getting there then?" The others were surprised at Harry's quick agreement and it showed on their faces. "What, I trust you lot and if you say that Dumbledore is about to allow Fudge to admit to St. Mungo's really I'm going to agree with any plan you come up with."

"Alright then, I figured I would apparate with Harry. We can't apparate onto Mihai's property, he has anti-apparition wards set up around the place, so we'll need you three in case we run into trouble of the death-eater variety."

"You think we were going to allow you to go without us? How are we getting there though it's to dangerous to do cross continent apparition without having seen your arrival point before."

"I thought I'd make you guys a portkey."

"Isn't that illegal?" Fred piped up

"Oh, like you two have never broken any laws." Charlie laughed in response

"Maybe I should write a note so that everyone will think I just ran away."

"Good idea, you okay with us packing up your things while you write it? It's getting on ten now which means it's nearing midnight in Romania, and trust me you don't want to see Mihai when he's been woken up." Harry didn't have any problem with the other's packing up his things, seeing as how his most personal items were his dad's invisibility cloak and the photo album Hagrid had given him. It was moments before ten by the time everything was ready, the boys quickly snuck back down out of the house and out past the wards. Hedwig watched from the upstairs window as her master and his friends disappeared into the thin air before taking off towards the daily prophet headquarters.

The next morning Hogwart's staff member's saw a sight that they had never witnessed before, headmaster Dumbledore not only shocked but speechless as well. Severus after seeing the front page of the morning's newspaper gave Harry a little internal cheer and made a promise to himself to describe in great detail the headmaster's reaction and if at all possible obtain a pensieve so the boy could witness it himself.

Minister of magic Cornelius Fudge had a slightly different reaction. Instead of being stunned silent the man went into a full rage causing two secretaries to break down in tears, one owl to be hexed quite horribly, and three house elves to cower in fear. Not realizing that Percy Weasley, who had recently been appointed as his aid, was in the room the minister went on a full vent about Harry's ability to get away from him. Hearing this Percy realized that he had been a fool to believe the minister's lies and gave Harry his own little personal cheer.

**The Daily Prophet**

**Monday July 17, 1995**

**_FAREWELL LETTER FROM THE BOY-WHO-LIVED!!_**

****

To Whom It May Concern:

You call me your saviour, but the moment I tell you something that you don't want to hear you call me a liar and believe me to be 'unstable'. If I am at all unstable then it is not because of my connection to _you-know-who_ it is from seeing someone whom I considered to be a friend murdered before my very eyes, and then having to witness the creature that murdered my parents regain his body. I do not say come back to life because _ you-know-who _ was never really dead, yes he was without physical form and very weak but his spirit still remained and had the ability possess mother nature's children. There are people who do not want to admit that this madman has returned for fear of creating panic amongst the people. The problem is you need to prepare and you need time to do this. You need to bond together with your friends and neighbours and protect your homes from this madness. United we are strong but divided we will fall.

I am leaving for now, though I will return once I have the knowledge to defeat this monster. Hogwarts will not provide me the skills that I need to do this, charming feathers to float and transfiguring quills into porcupines will not help me destroy _you-know-who _. Hopefully, once I return and we are once again in times of peace you will take the time to see Harry and not the boy-who-lived, but until then fare thee well.

Sincerely,

Harry Potter

Author Notes 

I know technically it's no longer Saturday and that I had promised to post by then but it turns out the five week old babies are a little more distracting than I realized, so it's an hour late but hey that's better than tomorrow evening though someone's gotta explain to my manager tomorrow morning why I got no sleep tonight. Just a couple of notes regarding Dumbledore's evilness in my fic. I personally think that no person in their right mind would fail to check on child whom they had left at the doorsteps of relatives believed to be the worst sort of muggles. And if he did check on Harry even if he wasn't being abused then leaving a child in a home where he was forced to do all the chores and sleep in a cupboard is still slightly evil, and if he did so with the level of abuse I've created for Harry's childhood then he's really evil. Also when it comes down to it this is fiction and au at that.


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